The Young Master in the Shadows

Chapter 49: Awakening

Aria could feel the hard rock floor under her body when she regained her consciousness, she heard the sound of someone arguing, so she opened her eyes and looked around.

Where am I? What happened? It looked like she was in some kind of a cave.

Tom was standing there arguing with Lily who gave him a stubborn look as she crossed her hands and faced him.

"Miss Lily, I didn't expect you to be a player too, I know you want to rush to find that guy Victor, and I appreciate your commitment, but this place is a maze and the best way to save everyone is to clear the dungeon. We have to start searching for the boss’s room. If Victor is smart he would be trying to do the same thing, So we will meet him sooner or later, you don't need to go around searching blindly and alone in a dungeon. That is both pointless and dangerous." he said to Lily who seemed a little convinced.

“I have to ask you about this though,” he said seriously to Lily, “Do you or Victor belong to an Overseer power?” He asked,

Lily did not answer, and he took it as a sign of approval, so he frowned a little, it seems his hunch was on the spot, that Victor although seemed arrogant, he gave Tom a dangerous feeling, and what kind of a young master has a player maid? He must be one of them. and most likely a Player too.

“Then answer me this, Do you belong to the Von Astrom family,” He asked with an obvious fury in his eyes, making Lily who didn't want to speak with him hesitate a little, he had the same look of hate she had when she wanted to kill Guy, so she chose to compromise and answer him,

“No, we have no relationship with them, but I can’t tell you which power we belong to without the young master’s permission,” she said then sat down and began to inspect the contents of her backpack.

Aria who was eavesdropping felt that their conversation was over so she slowly sat down and began to inspect the environment around her. but before she could do that, someone groaned beside her, "Ah..," it was Peter who had just regained consciousness.

"Where are we, what the hell was that, and where is everyone?" he asked as he sat down and began to look around "Was it a cave in? Did we fall?" He asked as he checked his phone to find it without a signal.

Tom looked at Peter and Aria who were panicking a little. He cleared his throat and began to speak,

"No need to panic, We are in a dungeon, one similar to that in Video games. Look over your heads to the left." Tom asked. Making Aria frown, as this was not the right time to tell a joke.

But when She looked up, she quickly gasped in astonishment, there was a blue shimmering screen in her field of vision, it just came into focus when she looked at it. "What is this? A log of some sort?" she thought,

WARNING

YOU HAVE ENTERED A DUNGEON…

INITIALIZING DUNGEON AWAKENING PROCEDURE…

Welcome Player...

Analyzing input data Finished...

You have successfully awakened as a PLAYER, your attributes have been automatically assigned by the system.

NAME: ARIA WHITE

LEVEL : 0

CLASS: MERCHANT

AUTHORITY: 2

Strength: 15

Intelligence: 23

Agility: 13

Luck: 14

Charm: 30

Order: 10

SKILLS :

System Store Access (LEVEL 0).

PLAYER Market Access (LEVEL 0).

Basic shield, E

Setup Complete.

“What the F*ck is that!!” said Peter as he looked up with wide eyes.

"Is this for real? What does this mean?" Aria asked Tom and Lily, she didn't believe her eyes.

Tom hesitated a little, then began to explain the existence of players to the astonished Aria and Peter,

“You have now awakened as players, think of it as a video game, but it is real, now you will have superpowers and will be able to level up by killing monsters and doing missions. The status screen is where you are assigned a Class and attributes, since you were awakened by a dungeon you did not get to choose your class, the system automatically assigned you one. Try it yourself, interact with your status screen, you can see all kinds of explanations on every attribute you look at. You can also try your skills,” He said, making Peter ponder a little and start to explore his status screen.

Aria needed a few seconds to absorb all this information. Dungeons? Players? Awakening? That last word, she heard it before, wasn't it the one used by the family to describe the ceremony? Could it be? She thought of her brother as she decided to inquire about this matter from him later.

she quickly looked at her status screen and started to interact with it, indeed, Tom was saying the truth. How can this be? This is not scientific, she thought,

“Ha ha ha, that is truly amazing, Is this for real?" said Peter as he pinched himself,

"Aaaah, it hurts. Now I am a superhero and I would get a lot of chicks to like me,” he said laughing, making Lily and Aria look at him with disgust.

Tom ignored him and continued talking,

"I have been a player since last winter, and it seems that Miss Lily is a player too," he said making Peter and Aria look at her.

Lily didn't answer just nodded her head, then turned her head to look into the darkness of a nearby passage as if she was searching for someone.

Tom didn’t care as he knew that Lily was looking for that guy Victor, and he hoped that Victor would perish here,

He looked at Peter and Aria as he continued his explanation.

"As I told you, this world, has many people who awaken the power to be players just like Video games. And it has dungeons and monsters too. And we are in such a dungeon. Luckily this one is a low-ranking dungeon as it seems to be a goblin’s cave, we would be able to clear it ourselves with some effort, I have been in two raids before." Tom said proudly.

“Why no one talks about these things? shouldn't Players be famous," Peter asked.

"Well..., This world has certain powers, they call themselves the Overseers, they are composed of five families, three sects and one organization, They have more power than most countries and forbade anyone from disclosing information about the existence of the system and players,” Tom answered as he clenched his finger, he seemed to hold some grudge.

“I have to warn you though, Never reveal anything, people died for this before." He added making Aria and Peter cool down a little.

"Now I need to know your classes and authority," He said,

"I am an Archer, and I have 2 authority, is that good?" Asked Peter,

"Yes, a fighting class is always good, we will have to find you a bow and some arrows, Most players get 2 Authority when they awaken, so that is normal," Tom said, then he turned to Aria, "And you? miss Aria,"

"Don't tell him, a player shouldn't reveal his class and attributes without a good reason, your skills are your secret weapon." Suddenly Lily warned Aria before she could answer, making Tom look at her with an inspecting gaze. she was smarter than what he expected. but that did not matter.

He turned to face Aria, and convince her,

"Don’t get me wrong, miss. Aria, I just wanted to know about your class so that I can find a suitable role in the fight for you. We might need your help as our only way out of here is by defeating that goblin General." He said with a charming smile, Aria didn't know what to do, but after seeing Tom's smile she chose to tell him. she didn’t have a powerful class anyway. she thought.

"I have a merchant class," she said making Lily frown a little.

If Victor was here he would nod his head as if he expected this result. Even a business genius like Aria would fall for Tom's smile. That is how strange the effect of Scions is on normal people. It was as if they become NPCs in front of them. So unlike Lily whose fate was already tied firmly to Victor’s, Aria didn’t feel anything abnormal when she told him.

"That is good,” Tom nodded “While you would not be very helpful in the fight, You can use your skills to buy remedies and health potions for us," he said before turning to Lily,

"Miss Lily, I really need to know your class to incorporated into my plan, this is very crucial for our success," he said in a serious tone. When he came to, he found that Lily was awake too, unlike the other two who were still unconscious, he knew that they were being awakened as players. When did she awaken and what are her powers? He really wanted to know. He has pretty much confirmed that she belonged to some power, but that won't stop him, he will get her sooner or later. he thought as he looked at her.

"This is very important." He pressured her.

"Tell me yours first," Lily asked, surprising him. She was not that easy to manipulate.

"I am a warrior," he said hiding his true class like every smart player, you never know when your best friend would betray you for some treasure, especially in a dungeon, where there is no one watching.

"Ah, me too, I am a dagger warrior," said Lily as she took out a black dagger from her bag, acting as if she was a warrior like him.

Tom looked at her but said nothing, he didn’t know if she was telling the truth or not, but during the coming fights, everything would become clear.

“Where do we go now?” Asked Peter as he looked at the branching tunnels surrounding them.

“Nowhere, We should check our equipment and our status first, we don’t know how long we would be staying here or when we would get a chance to rest again, do you have anything useful ?” He asked.

Peter shook his head then looked at Aria and Lily who were carrying big backpacks.

"What about you?" He asked Aria, who seemed far friendlier than Lily who was still hiding her mouth behind that semi-transparent veil and was giving Tom and Peter some cold stares.

Aria wanted to answer but she didn't know what was in it, this bag was given to her by Victor, who didn't explain anything. So she quickly opened the bag and inspected its inside.

It was full of food bars and some water bottles. but upon further searching, she found that it had a rolled sleeping bag in the bottom, and a medical kit too.

Aria was surprised, why did her brother pack these things, did he anticipate such a situation? Or was he planning to go on a camping trip?

"I have a sleeping bag, some food, and a medical kit," she said,

Tom nodded his head, it was not unheard of to bring such things when hiking in the wild, then he turned to Lily,

"What about you Miss Lily ?"

"The same as Aria’s" she answered without even looking.

"Why is there a pickaxe poking from your bag then?" asked Peter.

"Private matters," She answered. But sounded unconvinced,

"Did you or Victor know about this dungeon?" Aria suddenly asked her. She had to know, did her brother bring them here on purpose? Why would he bring a pickaxe if he just went hiking?

"It can't be," Tom said, "A dungeon can’t be found before it’s opening, maybe Victor heard some rumors about the mountain like we did and wanted to try his luck," He said, “And he turned out to be quite lucky,” he thought silently.

"But that pickaxe..." said Peter.

“It’s useless here, he probably wanted to dig for some treasure.” said Tom as he stretched his hand to Lily, “Can I borrow it?” he asked.

Lily hesitated for a second but then gave it to him, she also wanted to know if this thing would work here and if the young master brought them here on purpose.

Tom Took the pickaxe and began to hit a nearby wall with it. At first, a lot of rocks were smashed under his inhuman strength but after digging for two minutes the it began to produce yellow sparks when it impacted the rocks and it failed to make a dent in them.

“All the dungeon’s walls are protected by the world rules, so after digging for a while you will reach a limit, which can’t be dug before the dungeon is cleared.” He said as he returned the pickaxe back to Lily, deliberately touching her little hand in the process.

She shot him a warning glare as she quickly retracted her pretty hand, and carefully returned the pickaxe to the backpack. then handkerchief to wipe her hand.

Tom did not mind but smiled a little, girls her kind needs a lot of time to conquer. He thought, not knowing that Victor conquered her in three seconds.

“After a little rest we will start searching the dungeon, the boss here is the goblin general, he should be in a goblin’s settlement. So we just have to find some of them and follow their trails, they would probably leave some tracks,” Tom said as he looked into the dim tunnel in front of him. Wondering what kind of rewards he would get for clearing this dungeon.